SP
9010 owes its survival to a groundbreaking late Sixties program by the
Southern Pacific railroad: the creation of the first land-based
full-motion locomotive cab simulator for crew training.

Why a
simulator? Traditionally, engineers would train their firemen by
allowing them to run trains and gain experience. There were many
variables with this time-tested process, not the least of which was the
bending of regulations, and the whims of engineers who may or may not
have personally cared for their fireman, and vice-versa.

In
the forward-looking, MBA-driven railroading of the 1960s, management
began seeing this procedure as both archaic and a potential liability.
SP also regularly plied its stockholders and shippers with advertising
messages that the Company was at the cutting edge of transportation and
communications, and this program carried built-in bragging rights. The
U.S. was also embracing the Computer Age, and simulator technology had
advanced greatly from its origins in World War 2 Link Trainers
for
pilots.

Wikipedia
Commons

SP
was not alone on the pioneering path to a Locomotive Simulator; the
competing Santa Fe was in parallel development and deployment of a
rail-based Crew Training Simulator -- including a Camera Car of their
own -- developed by another prominent aerospace firm, Singer-Link.

Yes, that 'Link.'

Bob Zenk Photo

(More about the Dueling Simulators in the APPENDIX following.)

SP 9113 Escapes the Torch.

The
simulator technology of the time required the use of filmed and
projected background plates of the track ahead - 'OTW', or
"out the window" in simulator terms. To shoot that motion
footage, a suitable
camera platform was required.

All of the USA Krauss-Maffei locomotives were on borrowed time in
late 1968; Southern Pacific had pulled the plug on the diesel-hydraulic
experiment earlier in the year. Locomotives would operate until they
experienced a major sidelining failure. SP 9113 was among the last of
the soldiers, but finally toasted the number nine cylinder assembly of
her forward Maybach V-16. It was a fatal injury. SP 9113, the former SP
9010, was stricken from the locomotive roster on September 18, 1968.

Shortly
after, this forgotten foreigner was chosen as a rolling
chassis
for the Simulator Project. Here, we see work beginning on the stripping
of front end parts in late 1968 -- say, that's a bit of deja vu of how
the locomotive looked when the Pacific Locomotive Association acquired
it forty years later!

Chuck
Drake Collection

Why Pick a Dead KM?

Official
reasons for the choice of one KM in particular haven't surfaced yet.
Among the
foremost recommendations likely are a.) it had been written off the tax
schedule, b.) it was nearby -- the scrap line was near the General
Shops -- and c.) it was not valuable for trade-in.

SP
stockholders could also take comfort in the notion that their expensive
German locomotive experiment was still returning service to the
Company. But why was the former 9010 chosen over any of her other
dead-line companions? Maybe as simple a factor as having six
good wheels with plenty of tread.

There were a couple other
advantages to choosing a KM: the operator's cab was high, the better to
clear the Cardan shafts and other hydraulic propulsion machinery. That
placed it well above the new camera box, which was high enough to for
operators to stand up while presenting a camera level that was close to
an EMD cab's eyeline. And the forward radiator area was easy to clear
of relatively light auxiliary equipment while still maintaining overall
weight balance: not so easy with a domestic diesel's heavy generator
and prime mover.

SP9010
CollectionBob Zenk

SP 9010 CollectionBob Zenk

Maybe someone at SP also had a secret desire to preserve a KM. So
far,that's unsubstantiated!

Aero Tech Meets Hollywood.

Simulator
technology was born of aviation, and SP's program was developed in
cooperation with Conductron-Missouri, a subsidiary of
McDonnell-Douglas. That firm also contracted to develop the Apollo moon
shot simulators. (We like to say that the moon landing saved our KM.
Maybe it was a sympathetic connection with German rocket scientists?)

A
camera box, oddly reminiscent of early 'talking pictures' camera
enclosures, was first mocked up from plywood on retired SP 9120 - we
presume because SP 9113 was already being stripped and using another
chassis was convenient. This design was submitted to the ICC for
approval; the intent was to allow the option of Camera Car operation in
regular freight service at the point of a locomotive consist.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

The
Camera Car carried sophisticated recording equipment: two custom-built
Mitchell 35-millimeter feature film cameras set up for
half-frame
format, and two Nagra III professional feature film multitrack timecode
audio decks, all connected by XLR-type cabling.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Bogen
Audio supplied internal communications equipment, so that the camera
crew could converse with the operating crew. A switch panel controlled
external lighting from the camera room.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

There
was a steel box fabricated under the Nathan Air Chime horn, built to
contain two stereo microphones, keeping them away from wind noise and
buffering the high-decibel input level. The horn mount was raised with
two solid steel blocks, welded and drilled to clear.

Howard
P. Wise Photo

Chuck
Drake Collection

Howard
P. Wise Photo

Joe
Strapac Collection

Observe
in the last photo, above, how much the lower edge of the windshield had
to be raised to clear the camera enclosure. It's another installment of
our favorite game show, "I Never Noticed That".

There were
likely several other mic positions to record bell, wheel noise, and
perhaps the sounds of the trailing locomotive which actually provided
motive power. We're aware of no specifications for these microphone
locations on SP 9010.

The
remains of a 'mult box' with coaxial
cable connections was still in place above the righthand number 2 axle
when the unit was acquired in 2008.
First appearing in photos around 1973, the red-painted box
appears to have been physically connected, through a Barco speed
recorder drive head, between the axle journal and the box. By
1979 the box remained cabled to the chassis but had been pulled out of
the way, and the axle drive blanked off. We speculate that
the
box and its drive provided some sort of speed-calibration signal to the
onboard recording gear.

Craig
Walker Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Howard
P. Wise Photo

In
the camera nose, two seats from another retired KM -- SP 9120, perhaps
-- served the sound and camera operators. (This choice fortunately
provided 9010's restoration with a surplus of these adjustable S.
Bremshey & Co. ergometric seat units, much needed because of
heavy
deterioration of the existing cab seats from exposure. SP
crews
reportedly claimed a number of these seats from salvage to use on their
recreational Bass Boats!)

In the locomotive cab, controls were
retained to allow command over a trailing locomotive to supply motive
power. Note the long General Electric model U25B-style reverser lever
resting on top of the
GE-supplied sixteen-notch KC-99 control stand:

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Back Behind the Cab.

We
can confirm: reports of one of SP 8799's Maybach V16s having been
removed are incorrect. Both prime movers were retained for weight
balance. It was instead -- as the photo comparison below confirms --
the Number 1 radiator room which was evacuated.

SP removed the
Behr radiator groups, the transmission heat exchanger for the forward
transmission, both German Westinghouse V-6 air compressors and fluid
couplings, the Vapor-Watchman engine cooling water preheater, the
hydrostatic oil pump
which drove the radiator fans and actuated the air motors for the
radiator shutters, all three radiator fans with motors, and a few
assorted filters and other plumbing.

Top:
Bob Zenk
Bottom: KM Werkfoto

In
the vacated space SP installed an Onan skid-mount diesel generator to
power the controls of the car, its lights, and the recording equipment,
blanking four sets of hood doors in the process. Fuel was tapped from
the original 4200-gallon underframe tank. And the cab controls worked
in multiple-unit mode, with a trailing locomotive supplying motive
power and traction.
And
finally, a large EMD (General Motors)-style wedge snowplow pilot
replaced the diminutive KM original. A prodigious welded
shelf
provided support for the long-shank coupler, and new slots to
reposition the multiple-unit connector piping were cut into the pilot
sheet's now-beleaguered Austrian steel.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Phases of the 'Sim'.

Bob Zenk Photo

The
Camera Car was also called 'The Simulator Car' by some SP employes. And
it received running mods almost immediately, piling on the appliances
and adding to its profoundly ungainly visage. We're reluctant to
succumb to a railfan's and modeler's term and call these modifications
'Phases' -- but let's yield to the temptation as a visual spotting
shorthand.

Phase One: February, 1969.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

The unit
rolled out of Sacramento General Shops in February of 1969 being
referred to as 'SPMW (Maintenance of Way) number 1', but this may have
been unofficial, or simply shop floor shorthand. At this time, the unit
displayed no cabside road number, there were no air curtain blowers
under the camera port windows, and the unit wore a flush-mount
Pyle-National red Gyralite in the boxed spine applied to the nose.

The
unit number was identified only by a small stencilled 'SPMW 1166' -
signifying that the unit had been initially placed within the existing
Maintenance-of-Way roster. Phase Two: Early 1969.

Chuck
Drake Collection

SP
9010 Collection

The
Gyralite was the first to go. We don't know if the proximity of the
mechanism was causing interference with the sensitive camera and audio
systems, but it was replaced with a Mars unit mounted at the very top
of the nose, externally.

The reason for the move may have been
optical. A small notch was cut into the boxed headlight 'spine' near
the camera ports - clearly a solution to a problem with vignetting of
the film frame.

And also very soon after rollout, the need
became apparent for an external air curtain to keep the camera ports
clear. (We don't think that the Addams Family's 'Thing' is waving here,
but we're not sure.)

Chuck Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

Chuck
Drake Collection

We
learned an amusing story from one of the SP shop employes working on
the Camera Car air curtain. We'll let SP 9010's good friend Chuck Drake
tell the story:

"While the Southern Pacific had a fine
engineering staff in San Francisco, prototype modifications like this
were usually detailed in very basic terms for Sacramento. Many items
were left for Individuals like (General Foreman) Ron Sixby and shop
personnel to work out.

The lens blower was a particularly
troublesome item to design. Ron Sixby was a fine man... there was no
one within the Mechanical Department who did not admire and
respect him.

Chuck
Drake Collection

Ron
had the boiler shop make several versions, and as each was completed,
various flaws would surface. Finally, one looked promising. It was
finalized and arrangements was made to test the air flow at various
track speeds.

It so happens I turned out to be those arrangements.

I
had just bought a new Ford pickup and it was decided to use it for the
test. We bolted the blower to a sheet of plywood and proceeded to an
abandoned levee road behind the shops. As I would not allow holes to be
drilled in my new truck, several bags of sand and Ron were used to
anchor the blower to the truck. Ron climbed into the truck with the
blower and we agreed on a series if hand signals to regulate the test.

Instructions
were that we were to proceed at various speeds while Ron took air flow
readings at the blower's output. He would convey the readings to a
third individual to record. I was designated driver.

All went
well until we reached speeds around 45 mph. The levee road was
relatively short and we would run out of room in a short time. Trying
to watch both Ron and the road, I would keep one eye on the rear view
mirror and the other on the speedometer.

All of a sudden, all I
could see in the rear view mirror was Ron's huge behind and the bottom
of the plywood sheet that the blower was secured to.

After an
emergency stop and a short time to allow Ron to stop bouncing around in
the bed of the truck, we decided that the readings thus far taken were
acceptable and the test was concluded.

We joked about
this for many years. Ron would accuse me of ignoring his hand
signals to slow down and I would accuse him of obscuring the rearview
mirror with his big rear end."

Phase Three: Mid-Late1969.

Alan
Miller Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

The
unit would wear at least three varieties of air curtain blower, of
increasing duct size and presumably better air control. Here's the
second incarnation, which may be nothing more than a filter shroud
around the original blower motor:
We're
calling this change in appearance a 'Phase' because at this point --
early Summer of 1969 -- the number 8799 was painted on the cab sides,
on the Fireman's side of the nose, and on the rear end, officially
consecrating the new number.

(SP 8800 was the
earliest-numbered SD45 on the SP roster, and the Simulator was set up
to realistically re-create the cab and controls of a unit of this type.
Not just roster logic, it was also a bit of theatricality meant to tie
the simulator to the real-life experiences of crews. It worked only so
far: some trainees called it a 'fake number'.)

Phase Four: 1969-1970.

SP
9010 Collection

Another
larger shroud now appears around the air curtain blower assembly. A new
duct extension beneath the camera ports focuses the airflow, and a drip
awning or sunshade now appears over the camera ports. The road number
is also applied to the Engineer's side of the nose, since it's quite
readily obscured at some angles by the red Mars signal light.

The
Camera Car is pictured here with another noteworthy SP sole survivor,
SP 4294, the last Cab-Ahead steam locomotive, currenly a
star-in-residence at the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento.Phase Five: 1970-1985.

SP
9010 Collection

SP
9010 Collection

The
massive new ductwork appearing around the blower motor and camera ports
-- for our purposes, determining Phase Five -- must have been
successful, since this longest stretch of time resulted in the fewest
visible modifications. A growing package of lights dedicated to
illuminating the right-of-way also began to sprout; variations on this
appearance are numerous, and we'll refrain from calling each one of
these adjustments a 'Phase'.
This
modification also saw the dual white Gyralite unit mounting extended to
clear the boxier blower duct. And the whole face was now painted
Scarlet, ending the earlier, perhaps sportier anomaly of Dark Gray
headlight housings and MU connector boxes. (The
classification light housings apparently still needed a decorator
accent.)

The nose also
reverted to a single application of the road number, since the former
duplicate spot on the Engineer's side was covered by the air curtain
shrouding and no longer available real estate.

Operations: The Big Push.

Bob Zenk Photo

SP
8799 was operated in periodic filming duty, making repeated runs down
the same length of California mainline while shoved from behind by a
single road
locomotive.

We're unaware of the existence of complete logs
for these filming trips, but we do know that the Camera Car captured at
least a portion of the Donner Climb out of Colfax, some part of the
Altamont line out of Tracy, and Beaumont Hill through Colton and on to
Walnut - this latter route used for the first series of training.

Several
types of General Motors EMD motive power shoved on 8799's self-aligning
draft gear -- from
1500HP cabless booster model F7B, 1750HP model GP9 and 2500HP model
GP35, to SP-subsidiary Cotton Belt 3600HP model SD45T-2
"Tunnel
Motor" -- this last with a unique cooling system configuration adapted
to high-altitude tunnel operation, ironically born of SP's experience
with the Krauss-Maffei hydraulics. We're still looking for
records showing that 8799 ever ran on
the point in regular train service; all photos show only special
movements, as in this set of orders from 1969 out of Colfax:

Bob Zenk Collection

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don Bucholtz shares this fine series of photographs of the Tracy
operations in 1979:

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

Don
Bucholtz Photo

8799 Leaves Home for a Fixed Base.

After
a short locomotive lifespan, one spent virtually tethered to Roseville
Diesel Shops for maintenance and Sacramento General Shops for heavy
rebuilds, Camera Car SP 8799 finally left its adopted home turf.

Following
initial shakedowns out of Roseville, the unit was ultimately sent to
West Colton. Southern Pacific's new Engine Service Training Center was
first sited in a Conductron-managed facility in Downey, CA, but
soon moved to a dedicated building in Cerritos. SP 8799
often was parked on a spur near the building.

Inside that
facility was a full mockup of an EMD 'Spartan Cab', with full AAR-style
engineer control stand, and outward appearances similar to an SD45.
Computer controls for the Simulator Operator were behind the 'cab'
area. Emblazoned on the number boards above the slightly truncated
short hood was the number '8799':

C.
E. Wherry Photo

C.
E. Wherry Photo

Our
friend Charlie Wherry generously shared his recollections of working
the Simulator; his accounts were originally posted on Trainorders.com:

"The
SP operation used three projectors, although only one (set of images
would be seen) at any given time. As the trainee operated the controls
of the locomotive and the 'train' began to move, the stepping of the
projector would become apparent at very low speeds, although the screen
never showed dark. This became less noticeable as the speed of the
train increased.

The original training film was of Beaumont
Hill. I believe the film began at around Owl, maybe Pershing and went
through Colton all the way to Walnut. We'll say that projector 'A'
showed this scenario with all green signals. A second film, on
projector 'B' was filmed with a yellow flag (but no green flag) and had
the signal at El Casco in stop position.

The instructor would
pre-select projector 'B' and at the precise frame selected the computer
would shut off 'A' and light 'B'. The intention was that the change in
film would not be noticeable. Projector 'C' held a rear-end collision
scenario with a caboose in the siding at Walnut. That scenario was
filmed in reverse with the camera car at point of impact and the the
movement moving as quickly as possible away. That one had birds flying
backward!

Very few trainees had the time to make it down to
Walnut to see the 'C' run, most spending their time trying to master
the art of balancing the grade and getting stopped short of the red at
El Casco."

Students quickly learned to 'read' the subtle but
unintended cues that were a liability of the variations in image
between the 'A' and 'B' projectors, also called 'Default' and
'Alternate'. Students became adept at reading slight color
shifts in the film, or other little inadvertent clues, and knew when
the 'Alternate' projection - a red signal or other impediment requiring
action - had just been engaged.

All agreed that the experience
was realistic, and that the motion of the hydraulics gave a real sense
of feedback on train handling. The visuals also were highly convincing:
students occasionally found themselves waving back at 'bystanders'
standing at 'trackside', and SP had to formally post a sign reminding
enginemen not to spit out the window!

Second Retirement, Second Salvation.

The
Camera Car received little or no cosmetic maintenance attention through
the years, growing tattered and weatherbeaten. It was
activated
sporadically until the early 1980s, when the Simulator technology
advanced to a laserdisc-based format.

Goodbye, variable film; Hello, seamless digital images.

SP
8799 was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in April of
1986, where it
underwent an aborted volunteer attempt at restoration in the early
1990s.

California
State Railroad Musem Collection

California
State Railroad Musem Collection

California
State Railroad Musem Collection

Volunteers
detailed a plan to return the unit to original 1964 appearance, and
even traveled to Germany to meet with representatives of the
manufacturers, but were met with polite declines of assistance and good
wishes for success. During the initial assessment process, cab windows
were removed, the blank side plates over the
vacated Number Two Radiator Room were cut away, the EMD-style snowplow
pilot and extended coupler were removed, and - significantly --
the boxy camera nose was torched off and discarded.

Howard
P. Wise Photo

Despite
the best efforts of CSRM to secure their inactive projects, outside
storage meant that vandals, copper thieves, and the elements had free
rein over the hulk of the former SP 9010 for more than fifteen years.

The
PLA acquired this forlorn one-of-a-kind in the summer of 2008, fully
cognizant of the unique historic qualities. But the KMs have always
been an acquired taste for American railroaders and fans. Had the
camera nose been in place, it might have been again dismissed as a
'white elephant' and left for scrapping.

But PLA member
Charles Franz - not yet born when the Camera Car was retired - made a
persuasive case for its acquisition and preservation. And Howard Wise,
a veteran of several stunning historic locomotive renewals, became
Project Lead.

Patrice
Warren Photo

With
all of the Camera Car legacy gone, the decision was easily made to
begin immediate restoration to this forlorn survivor's unique
appearance as a brand-new 1964 German locomotive - a pioneering
experiment in high horsepower, efficiency, and superior traction.

Howard
P. Wise Photo

Current
restoration efforts are focused on returning SP 9010 to operation as a
'control cab', with authority over a trailing locomotive --
in
the same manner in which the unit last operated as Camera Car
8799.

It's not a matter of simply cleaning things up;
much control wiring is missing through conversion or vandalism, and
must be replaced. Eventually, should the healthy-seeming rear Maybach
be returned to operation, the empty radiator and auxiliaries
compartment will have to be re-populated with hydraulic and air
equipment. That's Stage Two of the master plan.

Bookmark this
page; we'll have updates as we build the files on Camera Car operation
and deployment, plus a lot more juicy detail photos. And if you have
historic information to share about the Camera Car and its operation,
the SP 9010 Project welcomes all to the effort!

Bob Zenk Photo

APPENDIX:
The Santa Fe Simulator

Bob Zenk Photo

We Are Not Alone.

We've
been careful to specify that the SP developed the world's first
'fixed-base' locomotive Simulator. The reason? Competitor Santa Fe
fielded a rolling Simulator aboard two railcars at the very same time.

Who was first? Santa Fe claims first stake in the ground.

In
fact, after asserting that SP had the 'first' locomotive simulator, we
heard from a fellow who begged to differ in the politest of terms --
with a volume of facts to back up his assertion.

"I
joined Singer-Link in June, 1969 (Singer had recently acquired Link
Aviation, of Link flight trainer fame). ATSF had already contracted
with Link for the LS (Locomotive Simulator) before then, and it was
about 80% complete.

My particular assignment was the
computer programming for the visual display system; the display control
and motion control were pretty much done when I joined the project.

(The
Simulator itself) was a self-contained car with three major sections:
1.) the simulator for the instructor and trainee, 2.) the electronics,
and 3.) quarters for the resident technician.

It simulated the EMD SD45.

The
simulator focused on starting, stopping, operating parameters, and
responding to signals (that's where the visual system came in - letting
the instructor change the colors of the lights in the scene at will).

The
computer was the Honeywell H316, a direct descendent of the
DDP-516. (You may have heard of a small system in which the
516
was used - ARPANet, the forerunner of the Internet. The 516 was the
first "router".)

Final assembly was done in the car on a siding at the Silver Spring, MD
railroad station through 1969 and into 1970.

The
35-millimeter film for the general view out the front window was done
by early 1969 -- everyone on the project had seen it in trial runs by
the time I joined in June. The filming was done outside
Clovis,
NM. As I heard it, that section was chosen because it was
real
simple; nice and flat, not lots of grade crossings; no semaphore
signals (so only the light color changed), and so on."

A Pair of Rolling Platforms.

The two
units - Santa Fe called them Simulator and Film Car - were
photographed while on display
in Fresno, CA in early 1971. The Santa Fe's version of a
Camera Car was built
in 1918 under lot number 4530 by the Pullman Car Company as Business
Car 30. Retired from those duties in 1966, its conversion to
Film
Car 30 was completed in March 1969. The camera position
occupies
the area of the original open platform. It was renumbered to
Film
Car 5009 in July of 1970, and finally to Film Car 73 in January of
1973. It was repainted solid dark gray with a silver roof and
silver "zebra" stripes.

Simulator Car 5008 was converted from streamlined coach-lounge car ATSF
3179, and was renumbered to Simulator Car 70 in 1973.

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Bob Zenk Photo

Systems and Develpment.

Tom says that principal photography for Santa Fe's sim
was likely
completed before the SP had wrapped their shooting. He
describes
the system:

"Making
the film early was pretty easy -- Link knew all about film-based runs
from aircraft landing training: put a camera at the same
position
as an engineer's eye in an SD45, and run the camera car through the
various training scenarios (i.e., at the various target speeds for each
type of training run). The visual system did all the adjustments for
the trainee running faster or slower than expected during each session.

We had a big public introduction party hosted by the Department of
Transportation at Union Station in Washington, DC." Tom
noted that the bracing and tie-downs apparent in the photos of ATSF
5008 were to stabilize the car against the simulator's two-axis motion
capability: back-to-front and side-to-side. (SP can still lay claim to
the six-axis motion common to fixed-base flight sims.)

Tom notes that the ATSF contract was with the Silver Spring, MD base of
Singer-Link:

"They
did Task Trainers (such as Anti-Submarine Warfare airborne
workstations), and they could handle the locomotive controls and
displays fine. The Binghamton, NY operation (where I worked) did the
full-blown flight simulators with the equations-of-motion, full 6
degree-of-freedom motion, and visuals."

Tom suspects that the SP
work may have been similarly distributed between Conductron-Missouri
and other sim-tech contractors to the Apollo and Gemini missions:

"Grumman,
as the Lunar Module designer, provided the specifications, Conductron
did the cabin and instrumentation mock-ups, and Link did the motion and
visuals. I worked on the Space Shuttle simulator, and we carried over
lots of Link Apollo stuff."

Shared Tech: The Mitchell Camera and Projector.

Whether Link was a player with SP
is uncertain, and less likely because of competition with Conductron.
But Mitchell Camera obviously contracted with both railroads during the
same period, and shared similar technologies:

"The Santa
Fe simulator used a Mitchell projector. What an incredible
beast.
The SP probably used the same (or very similar) model.

Tom
describes a significant difference between the SP and Santa Fe
projection systems: Santa Fe used a single film and projector, so there
was no telltale color shift as with a film change; students
theoretically couldn't outsmart the Santa Fe system as easily!

Santa
Fe filmed parts of the railroad with color head 'searchlight' signals,
not moving semaphores, so that only the illuminated color indication
needed to function in the sim:

The Santa Fe Simulator "had
separate red, yellow and green spot projectors on X-Y servos. We
calibrated each frame of the film to specify the position and apparent
size of a signal light (as it came into view and the train passed it)
on the frame. Similar to the technique for the visual speed effect, we
used key frames and interpolated the light position, size, and apparent
brightness.

Prior to or during a training run, the
instructor would select the colors to display, and could vary the color
changes and timing of the changes at will during an exercise
(pre-programmed or manual override).

This was only
possible because the Mitchell projector produced a pulse for each frame
as it entered the gate. A magnetic strip on the film at the start of
the run gave a signal to zero the film counter, and we used the pulses
to maintain a frame count.

Cruise Control.

The Mitchell had a completely
variable frame rate, from dead stop to full speed (I think double speed
- 48 frames per second). Consumer home projectors often used a
continuous film-frame motion, and the shutter was used not so much to
blank the frame change but to display only an instant of the film, thus
appearing as one static image after another.

Pro-level
projectors, such as the Mitchell, used a more sophisticated
system. A fork entered the film sprocket holes, the shutter
blanked the screen, the fork pulled the old frame out of the gate and
the new frame in, the shutter opened on the new frame, and the fork
retracted. As implied by the slow-motion and single frame
capabilities, the shutter didn't run continuously but only when needed
for a frame change."

If the film advance was stopped (as the
'train' stopped), why didn't the frame burn up almost immediately, as
home movie projectors might?

"I learned that the Mitchell
and other high-end projectors used a nifty glass mirror that reflected
visible light and passed infrared. The projector bulb faced upward (for
best airflow) and the mirror sat at 45 degrees above it. The mirror
bounced the visible light to the projector gate, and the infrared
passed straight on up and out.

When curious about
how much visible light leaked through the mirror, I looked down the
vent shaft. The bulb was a glowing pink, not very bright at
all,
but the blast from the infrared sure hit me fast. I recommend
not
trying it yourself to check."

Building a Living History.

Tom's detailed recollections
of the 'backstage' side of the Santa Fe Simulator are a wonderful
interpolation of what likely occurred on the SP side.

Both
Simulators can lay claim to being 'first' - through the tecnicality
that Santa Fe's was a mobile training system with limited motion
simulation, while SP's was fixed-base and multi-axis like aircraft
simulators. SP definitely had the
more exotic camera platform, and for that we're grateful. We're also
grateful for the recollections of people like Tom Vojir, Charlie
Wherry, Chuck Drake, and all the other folks who continue to generously
add to the history of SP 9010, its lives and lifetimes.

We
eagerly solicit the experiences and recollections of anyone working the
SP's Simulator on the tech and development side. Our "KM Memories" page
is due for expansion!